This book is where the subplot of Batman starting to get run down begins. Personally, I didn’t include Sword of Azrael in my book because I had the trade, and did not feel the need to rip it apart for binding. Now, if you’re really anal about your Batman continuity, LOTDK Annual #2 (marriage of Gordon and Essen) probably should go in there somewhere, because the wedding is mentioned as upcoming in the earlier issues, and in the past in later issues. However, that story itself doesn’t tie into Knightfall, and would slow the pacing of this book down. So I fudged it, and included in a previous volume.

Contrary to what DC has tried to say since the original TPB publication, this is the correct placement of SOTB #16-18. They try to place it based on the bat signal on the cover, but if you read the comics, you’ll see why it can’t work between Detective #665 and Batman #499.

KnightQuest may or may not fit into one book, depending on your binding preferences. It’s 36 issues, but with the thicker newsprint of the early 1990s. If it was published twenty years later, then it probably would easily fit into one book (but weigh a ton).

The main reason I kept the Search and Crusade issues integrated is because Az-Bats shows up in his latest costume in the LOTDK arc. DC screwed up on the covers to some issues, mistakenly labeling Crusade issues as Search. Only the 8 issues I’ve listed above are actual Search issues.

I chose this uneven breakpoint, because Batman #505 starts the Abbatoir and new costume subplots, which make the stories thereafter much more consistent. Prior to that, the only main theme of KnightQuest was “the adventures of Azrael as Batman”.

The original printing of the Knightsend TPB works fine. It does not include the Showcase story, and it cuts out a few pages of Robin #9 that are not completely relevant to the Batman plots. It is not necessary to include any other Catwoman issues (even #13 which was labelled as Aftermath). The Catwoman series did a good job of intersecting two stories, so if you are just reading Catwoman straight through, you get a coherent story. Likewise, if you’re just reading Knightsend, you don’t feel like you’re missing anything from Catwoman.

This was, no joke, one of the first runs I ever prepped to bind and I’ve never perfected it, but now I’m just going to follow the map. I was going to take this storyline all the way through PRODIGAL. You wouldn’t happen to have that mapped out, would you? I’ll dig mine out if anyone is interested.

I just added a Prodigal map, including Zero Month and the Troika, and a few other loose ends. I don’t have a perfect Zero Hour map yet, but for Batman himself, just take the issues right after Knightsend.

I think it’s really important to have Sword of Azrael in the Prelude Volume. Without it Jean-Paul Valley just kind of shows up out of nowhere. And it’s pretty easy to find in back issues or trade. Other than that, this is pretty much exactly the map I have laid out for this storyline.

Like I said, I have the trade of Sword of Azrael, and it’s right before Prelude on my bookshelf. When I was hunting down back issues, it was cheaper to obtain the trade than the individual issues, and I didn’t feel like taking the trade apart to bind.